A Palestinian delegation will be heading to The Hague on Tuesday for a meeting with international law experts over probes into Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, the national committee to follow-up on the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Monday.

Spokesman for the committee, Ghazi Hamad, said meetings were held in the West Bank and Gaza under the chairmanship of Saeb Erekat to discuss the latest developments as regards ICC investigations into Israeli crimes.

Hamad said the committee was updated on the latest reports about a series of meetings convened with ICC representatives between March 19-21 in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The meeting further tackled underway Israeli attempts to abort the committee’s endeavors in international forums and obstruct documentation of war crimes against the Palestinians.

The technical committee further spoke out against Israel’s illegal settlement activity across the occupied Palestinian territories.

The family of Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif said they would file legal procedures against the Israeli army in front of an Israeli court, after an autopsy of the 21-year-old Palestinian’s body confirmed that he was still alive when an Israeli soldier fired a bullet at his head at point-blank range, killing him.

A graphic video released by B’Tselem captured the moment the soldier stepped forward and shot al-Sharif in the head on March 24 in Hebron, after he had been gunned down and left lying on the ground severely wounded for several minutes after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier.

In a press conference at Hebron governor’s office, the al-Sharif’s uncle Fathi al-Sharif also urged the Palestinian Authority to file legal procedures against Israel at the International Criminal Court.

He also urged the PA and human rights organizations to push for the release his nephew’s body, which is still being withheld by Israel.

Hebron Governor Kamil Hmeid said at the news conference that the PA would “document the crime and refer it to international courts in order to expose the crimes Israel has been committing since the beginning of the popular rising in October 2015.”

Palestinian doctor Rayan al-Ali, who attended al-Sharif's autopsy on Sunday, reiterated that “the last bullet which an Israeli soldier fired at al-Sharif’s head at point-blank range was the direct cause of death.”

Al-Ali added that he had prepared an in-depth report about the autopsy, which also revealed that al-Sharif was hit by seven or eight bullets which caused 17 wounds in his body.

The soldier who killed al-Sharif has claimed he acted in self defense and is facing charges of manslaughter rather than murder as had been widely expected.

He was released into open detention on Friday in an Israeli military camp, after an appeal by the prosecution was denied to extend his remand for another five days.

The international community has reacted in the wake of al-Sharif's killing, expressing worries that it might be part of a broader Israeli "shoot to kill" policy against Palestinian suspected attackers.

"We are concerned this killing may not be a lone incident," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville said in a recent statement, adding that "all incidents where security forces have caused death or injury should be fully investigated, and those responsible brought to account."

Rights groups have also repeatedly criticized Israel for offering impunity to Israelis who harm Palestinians.

Al-Sharif was among the more than 200 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October.

The unrest has been marked by a surge of small-scale attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals -- predominantly on Israeli military targets -- which have left nearly 30 Israelis dead, with the majority of suspected Palestinian attackers shot dead on site.

Two Palestinian Human Rights activists believe that the results of the autopsy conducted on the body of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif can be used as evidence to condemn Israel and prevent the closure of cases against its soldiers, who carry out field executions of Palestinians civilians.

Sharif was executed by an Israeli soldier on March 24 while lying motionless on the ground after being earlier shot and wounded in the old town of al-Khalil for allegedly trying to stab another soldier.

the autopsy results confirm the truth, which is premeditated murder, as monitored by the cameras in the place.

Fatal shot

Rayan al-Ali, the Palestinian doctor who attended the autopsy on Sunday, in the Abu Kabir Institute in occupied Jerusalem, confirmed that the last bullet fired by the Israeli soldier at Sharif's head, after he was injured and was lying on the ground, is the cause of his death.

The Israeli soldier was arrested after the uproar caused by the video that documented the crime, but then was released and kept in custody within his battalion.

The Israeli prosecution reneged on charging the soldier of murder and charged him instead with involuntary manslaughter, according to the Hebrew media.

Dr. al-Ali pointed out that it was possible that Sharif would have been alive before being shot at his head; as most of the bullets that hit him before the soldier’s fatal shot wounded his feet and other non-vital parts of his body.

Shooting to kill

Jabarin believes that these data confirm that the Israeli soldiers shoot to kill. He pointed out that the judicial system in Israel manipulates the charge title to mitigate the offense of the killer; it is trying to alleviate the cause of death and not the process of murder, these words in the legal sense have their indications and consequences in the favor of the killer soldier.

He said: "We have to follow-up on the case, as Israel will try to manipulate the terminology and the type and size of conviction.

Hence we must complete the file in the case and to accuse the killer soldier with the true charge of the crime, which is murder, a war crime".

He added that the video that documented the crime was the only reason why the soldier was arrested and interrogated.

This confirms the importance of the media and the importance of eyewitnesses and technical report regarding the autopsy of the bodies, which we must not compromise with, and we must insist on the presence of a Palestinian doctor in the process, he elaborated.

Relying on the autopsy results

For his part, the head of the legal unit of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, lawyer Jawad Boulus, stressed the importance of relying on the autopsy results conducted on Sharif's body to condemn the Israeli soldier, who deliberately committed the murder crime.

He stressed the importance of following up these crimes through the legal process, especially at this time in which Israel suffers from unprecedented moral decline including the decline in values of human rights, and encouraging murder against Arabs, Palestinians and minorities in the Israeli society.

He called for confronting the field executions against our people by professional documentation to be used by human rights institutions, agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations, so as to expose the Israeli occupation before the world public opinion, and convict Israel before the competent courts.

A Palestinian medic carries the body of a child, killed in an explosion in a public playground on the beachfront of Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

In ongoing efforts to hold Israel accountable for gross violations of international law, Palestinian legal rights group Badil has published key findings on alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war that the group submitted to the International Criminal Court earlier this month.

The report documents in detail the accounts of Palestinian victims of Israel’s large-scale military offensive on the besieged enclave and charges high-level Israeli officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the report, No Safe Place[PDF], Badil focused in particular on Israel’s mass forced displacement of some half-a-million Palestinians at the height of hostilities, around 28 percent of Gaza’s population.

Badil documents extensively Israel’s failure to establish protected humanitarian areas within the Gaza Strip where those displaced by Israel’s massive military onslaught could seek refuge.

“Given the limited physical dimensions of the Gaza Strip and sheer scale of its square footage targeted by Israeli fire, there existed no safe place to which to flee,” Badil said.

“More than this, Israel actively targeted Palestinians during and after the process of flight, and the very buildings designated by humanitarian organizations as shelters for the displaced -- home to some 300,000 displaced Palestinians at the peak of hostilities -- were subject to Israeli attack.

Israel’s 51-day assault killed at least 2,250 Palestinians, including 551 children and 299, according to Badil. Over 11,000 were physically injured, and the civilian population was left marred by acute mental trauma following the tens of thousands of tank and artillery shells that bombarded the tiny coastal enclave.

Over half of the hospitals in the besieged enclave were damaged -- six of which were forced to close down entirely -- and 26 schools were completely destroyed, Badil reported.

Badil -- joining other international right bodies -- called for the desperate need for intervention by the ICC on the grounds that Israel’s internal investigative processes are structurally inept at delivering genuine accountability or justice.

Palestinian leadership initially moved to the ICC last year amid ongoing violations carried out by Israel across the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Palestinian committee in charge of following up with the ICC met with court representatives in Jordan earlier this month to arrange a visit to the Gaza Strip. The ICC began conducting a preliminary probe in January last year examining available information to decide whether there was a "reasonable basis" to proceed with a full investigation.

The impossible task of holding Israel accountable

While Palestinian leadership has pursued bringing justice for Palestinians in the international arena -- through UN bodies in particular -- Badil said the ICC may have the potential to bring such justice to fruition when other bodies prove unable.

Simon Reynolds, lead researcher and author of the recent Badil report, told Ma’an that the ICC in theory is less prone to political interference than the UN General Assembly or Human Right Council, which operate on the basis of votes and behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Reynolds said that while the workings of the ICC are not entirely insulated from external influence, the ICC as a formal criminal tribunal provides processes that are far more rigid and transparent than other international forums used by human rights defenders to seek protection of Palestinians’ human rights.

“In addition,” Reynolds said, “The ICC also allows us to consider the criminal responsibility of individuals, rather than than the unlawful practices of States, which forms the focus of UN resolutions.

“This could prove an extremely potent tool to achieving accountability for Israeli-perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity, as it forces offenders to acknowledge that they may personally have to answer for their crimes, rather than hiding behind the anonymity that comes with 'state responsibility.”

Reynolds, who was a major actor in submitting the Badil report to the ICC earlier this month, told Ma’an that utilizing international avenues to hold Israel and its citizens accountable for unlawful policies and actions was “inherently difficult” due to “a lack of political will among relevant actors.”

“Many powerful states and regional bodies have significant political and economic interests tied up in the fate of Israel, and Israel's projected image of a law-abiding, democratic state in the midst of the turmoil of the Middle East is essential to the maintenance and development of these interests,” Reynolds said.

“The difficulty lies not in documenting and reporting Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity; such evidence is abundant.

“Rather, the difficulty is found in persuading those in positions of power to take notice, and to realize their legal and moral obligations to intervene.”

Palestinian leadership met with representatives from the ICC prosecutor’s office in Jordan earlier this week discuss the possibility for opening an investigation into war crimes committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Files submitted to the ICC included documentation of violations committed through settlement expansion, the deadly arson attack on the Dawabsha family, near-daily killings carried out by Israeli forces on Palestinians, and Israel’s 2014 offensive on the Gaza Strip, Shihadeh said.

The ICC is conducting a preliminary probe on possible Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The probe, which was opened in January of this year, is not a full investigation, but an examination of available information to decide whether there is a "reasonable basis" to proceed with a full investigation.

The turn by Palestinian leadership to the ICC has been referred to by Israeli officials as “diplomatic terrorism.”

Palestinian leadership moved to the ICC amid ongoing violations carried out by Israel that international rights group Amnesty International investigations have referred to as war crimes.

The turn to the ICC was also influenced by the lack of progress made through peace negotiations in creating an independent Palestinian state.

A UN official on Friday condemned in the strongest terms the brutal "extrajudicial execution" of a wounded Palestinian by an Israeli soldier that was captured on camera in Hebron the day before.

Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said he strongly condemned the apparent "extrajudicial execution" of the Palestinian, who was shot in the head at point-blank range despite having already been shot to the ground, where he lay wounded for several minutes, after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier.

"This was a gruesome, immoral, and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation," Mladenov said.

He welcomed the condemnation of the execution by Israel’s Minister of Defense, Moshe Yaalon, and called on the Israeli authorities to "swiftly bring to justice" the Israeli soldier responsible.

The UN official went on: "It is time to stop the negative spiral of violence and to begin positive steps towards ending the occupation and bringing long overdue peace and security to the people of Israel and Palestine."

Israel has repeatedly been accused by rights groups, international leaders, and Palestinian officials of enacting a policy of "extrajudicial executions" against Palestinians since a wave of unrest swept the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel last October.

However, the rare video footage of Thursday's incident -- captured by a staff member with Israeli human rights group B’Tselem -- brought a barrage of condemnations from the Israeli leadership and led Israel's army to detain the soldier responsible and launch an investigation.

Palestinian residents of Hebron Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, both 21 years old, were shot down Thursday after allegedly stabbing and moderately wounding an Israeli soldier near a military checkpoint in Hebron’s Old City.

Al-Qasrawi was killed instantly, while the graphic video footage showed al-Sharif lying on the ground for several minutes -- moving his head slightly but posing no threat -- before an Israeli soldier walked up to him and shot him in the head.

The soldier has since claimed he killed al-Sharif out of fear the incapacitated man was going to detonate a suicide bomb vest, according to Israeli media reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response the soldier's conduct did not represent the values of the Israeli army, which he said "expects its soldiers to behave level-headedly and in accordance with the rules of engagement."

Defense Minister Yaalon for his part said: "Even as we are forced to fight our enemies and overcome them in battle, we are equally obligated to uphold our mores. To be human."

The statements come despite the fact that both officials have been accused by Palestinians and rights groups of incitement against Palestinians and advocating a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who carry out attacks.

Palestinian member of Knesset Ayman Odeh, who has been a vocal opponent of past incitement, said: "Israel has become a place where public executions are carried out with the cheers of the crowd, the price of security and moral deterioration is being paid by both peoples."

The MK called for Netanyahu to be tried with the soldier responsible for Thursday's execution, alongside other Israeli officials responsible for incitement against Palestinians.

61 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at several military checkpoints pitched across the occupied West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem since the start of the anti-occupation uprising in early October, Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday.

EuroMed expressed its concern over the striking surge in Israel’s extrajudicial executions of Palestinian civilians under the pretext that they attempted to attack Israeli soldiers while in reality they posed no threat. EuroMed kept record of two deadly attacks carried out by the IOF on Thursday against 21-year-olds Abdul Fatah al-Sherif and Ramzi Qasrawi at a military checkpoint in Tel Rumeida, in al-Khalil.

The occupation troops fired at least 10 bullets on the youths and left them bleeding on the ground before another Israeli soldier moved towards Abdul Fatah and hit him with more bullets from a very close range, killing him right on the spot. Israeli ambulance crews were, meanwhile, providing medical assistance to an Israeli soldier who sustained light wounds in an alleged anti-occupation stabbing while they paid no heed to the injured Palestinians, in a serious contravention to international medical laws.

Half an hour later, the Israeli soldiers wrapped the two casualties in a black cover and dragged them to an unidentified destination. EuroMed legal adviser Ihsan Adel said the fact that Israeli murderers are not brought before courts and that serious probes into executions of Palestinians are not launched give Israel green light to kill more Palestinians.

EuroMed spoke out against the remarkable surge in Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, particularly Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. At least 209 Palestinians were murdered by IOF since the start of the anti-occupation uprising, it added.

EuroMed called on the U.N. special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions to pop in the occupied territories and launch an investigation into such crimes. EuroMed urged the Israeli occupation to cease arbitrary executions of Palestinians and to launch a transparent investigation into the extra-judicial killings.

The Israeli army opened an investigation on Thursday after video footage was released showing an Israeli soldier shoot and kill a wounded Palestinian -- lying on the ground and posing no threat -- at point-blank range.

The footage was captured by a field worker for Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, who began filming shortly after two Palestinian, Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, were shot down after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier in Hebron’s Old City.

Al-Qasrawi was killed immediately, while al-Sharif was left lying on the ground wounded.

The graphic video footage shows al-Sharif moving his head with his arms outstretched, surrounded by armed soldiers.

One of them then walks up to al-Sharif and shoots a bullet into his head.

Israeli officers and other armed individuals in the area at the time do not appear to react to the final shot.

Amnesty International called for the incident to be prosecuted as a potential war crime, saying: “The shooting of a wounded and incapacitated person, even if they have been involved in an attack, has absolutely no justification.”

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed to Ma’an that an investigation had been opened.

“The IDF views this incident as a grave breach of IDF values, conduct, and standards of military operations. A military police investigation has commenced and the soldier involved has been detained," the army said in a statement.

Israel has come under repeated criticism for what many have termed a “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians advocated by Israeli officials since a wave of unrest began last October.

Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said that Thursday’s incident mirrored a number to take place previously.

“Israeli forces have a long history of carrying out unlawful killings -- including extrajudicial executions -- in the occupied Palestinian territories with impunity," he said.

"While it is encouraging that the soldier in the video has reportedly been suspended and placed under investigation, previous Israeli investigations have failed to hold members of the Israeli forces accountable even when there has been clear evidence of criminal wrongdoing."

He encouraged the Israeli authorities to “use this opportunity to end the culture of impunity that has made such killings increasingly commonplace.”

B’Tselem -- which has recently come under attack by Israel’s right -- has accused Israeli soldiers and police officers of becoming “judge, jury and executioner” during the past few months of violence, blaming official encouragement and effective impunity.

The UN's human rights monitor in the occupied Palestinian territory, Makarim Wibisono, has also slammed what he termed Israel’s “extrajudicial executions,” most recently during an address to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

Wibisono also said that while wanton acts of individual violence -- committed by both Palestinians and Israelis -- were unacceptable, the recent surge in violence was "arising in a pre-existing context."

"Tensions have risen against a backdrop of illegal settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza, and a general lack of accountability," he said.

Palestinians have in the past voiced strong distrust of Israeli probes into violations carried out in the occupied area, and Amnesty International last summer said Israel’s system of military investigation failed to meet the standard criteria for effective investigations.